A Tale of Two
by SylviaKerne
Summary: "You have to stay safe and hidden. You cannot do anything that would mean that you could be found. This means no hidden messages, no patronuses, no dangerous visits, no attempting to help us. You two need to be safe." RW/SM


**Disclaimer: As much as I would really love to own the wonderful world of Harry Potter I do not, as it all belongs to JKRowling.**

**A/N: This chapter is to replace the first three chapters so that it is now all in one chapter. Previous readers do not need to read this again as it is roughly the same plot, but some things have been changed. More updates to the story will be up soon.**

**X.o.O.o.O.o.X**

**A Tale of Two: Chapter 1**

**Rose & Scorpius - aged 11:**

"Ronald Bilius Weasley, if you do not get down here within the next thirty seconds then I am going to be forced to come up there and drag you down myself!" A very enraged Hermione Weasley shouted up the stairs.

Hermione stood standing at the bottom of the staircase and waited, though she didn't have to wait long since a few seconds later movements were heard coming from the floor above, and then finally a grumbling red-haired man arrived at the top of the stairs.

"I don't even get why you're forcing us to go to this stupid ball thing, it's going to be boring and dull and long and... stupid," Ron grumbled.

"So mature Ron," Hermione said back, her voice dripping in sarcasm, "But since this is the Auror celebration ball, and _you_ chose to be an auror, _you_ have to go. And unless you want to be spectacularly late then I suggest that you hurry up and help me get the kids into the car!"

**X.o.O.o.X**

A disgruntled Ron Weasley was standing off to the side of the large ministerial room. Alongside him was his oldest child, Rose, whilst Hugo, his youngest child, was running around with a bunch of other nine and ten year old children. Ron thought that Hugo looked like he was enjoying himself at this awful event, and wanted much the same for the shy eleven year standing with him.

"Rosie, why don't you go and play with the other children like Hugo?" Ron tried to persuade Rose.

"But daddy, I don't want to!" Rose complained.

"Go and play Rosie, you might have some fun and make some friends."

"Al and Roxie are my friends daddy, I don't want any more!"Rose whined, but was gently pushed forward by her father and, deciding that she had no choice, went to find somebody to talk to. After a moment of scanning, she spotted one blonde boy all on his own on the opposite side of the cavernous hall, and decided as she walked over to him that he would make a good friend for her.

**X.o.O.o.O.o.X**

**Rose & Scorpius - aged 12:**

"Rosie, why don't you go and play with that Scorpius boy again?" her mother encouraged her.

"Do I have to Mum? We don't even talk at school," Rose said, her voice low.

"Well, you seemed to get on pretty well with him last time, and he's standing all on his own over there! You can't leave him alone Rosie."

"But mum, daddy told me that I wasn't allowed to talk to him because his dad wasn't very nice in school," She told her mother.

"He told you that? Well then, let me tell you something Rose – Scorpius is not his father, he's not even a Slytherin like Draco. You need to learn that just because a person's dad made bad choices, it does not mean that the person is necessarily a bad person as well. So, why don't you go and talk to him then?" Hermione lectured her.

"Fine," Rose said begrudgingly before walking over to the lonely boy that once again stood against the wall as if he was trying to blend into it.

**X.o.O.o.O.o.X**

**Rose & Scorpius - aged 13:**

"Oh look, Scorpius is here again and he's all alone! Rosie you should really go..." Her mother started, again.

"I know, I know. I'll go and talk to him so he's not on his own anymore, after all just because his father is bad doesn't mean that he is bad. I get it, I'll just go to save getting lecture again," Rose interrupted.

"Wait Rosie, I don't think you should spend so much time with that _Malfoy _boy. He's a bad influence on people and I don't want that to rub off on you," Her father Ron warned her. Her mother gave him a light hit on the arm that was accompanied with a glare at Ron, but Rose answered her dad anyway – she always was a daddy's girl.

"It's fine Daddy, really. I'm not even friends with him. I just go because otherwise Mum will bug me about leaving him all alone for the whole ball," Rose said, whispering the last bit into her father's ear so that her mum wouldn't hear her. She then once again walked away to the other side of the hall to greet the blonde haired boy.

**X.o.O.o.O.o.X**

**Rose & Scorpius - aged 14:**

"I can't believe our parents have stuck us together yet again. This is so unfair," Rose complained.

"_Our_ parents? I think you mean _your_ parents, Weasley. My parents just leave me to myself to do whatever I want," Scorpius said.

"Oh, you and I definitely both know that the one and only fabulously famous Draco Malfoy would have no trouble whatsoever in coming to break us two up if he weren't happy about it. Though I wouldn't mind it if he did just so I could go back to my parents," Rose said, before adding "Anyway, I could be stuck with worse people I suppose."

"Pray tell, who would be worse to share your evening with than me?"

"I don't know at the moment, but there has got to be _someone_ worse than you on the planet."

"I bet there are loads worse people on this planet than me, little Rosie Posie," Rose scowled at the name, and a bell rung through the hall "But I'm guessing that bell means that we have to sit down for dinner, and let's just hope we're not sitting next to each other yet again, sitting with you can be terribly boring sometimes Weasley."

**X.o.O.o.O.o.X**

**Rose & Scorpius - aged 15:**

"The people who organise these seating plans must be totally off their rockers to seat us next to each other every single year!" Scorpius exclaimed.

"At least we don't have to sit with Lysander yapping at us about whatever the heck he was talking about like last time. I swear I could've killed him by the end of that dinner!" Rose said angrily.

Scorpius laughed, "Oh come on, and he wasn't that bad! Sure, I had no idea what he was talking about but at least his odd comments made dinner entertaining for us. I'm guessing that particular trait came from his loon of a mother. My told me that they had a nickname for her in school – Loony Lovegood or something."

"I suppose you're right about Lysander, he is an odd one, but you'd think they wouldn't pair us together every single year. It just gets annoying since nobody else here gets partnered with someone more than twice – and that includes both mine and your parents!"

"Maybe they're trying to get the Weasley's and the Malfoy's to be civil with each other, either that or they want us to kill each other."

"I wouldn't _kill _you, maybe just maim or seriously injure. All these years of us complaining together about these stupid things has kind of got me to the 'not hating you' stage of our relationship."

"Thanks... I guess. I suppose I wouldn't really kill you either, if only for the fact that if I did I would be sent to Azkaban," He aimed a devilish grin at her before returning to his meal.

**X.o.O.o.O.o.X**

**Rose & Scorpius - aged 16:**

"I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that we're sitting next to each other again," Rose said.

"I'm starting to think they have a reason for it... like someone has been making sure we sit together," Scorpius told her.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, intrigued at the possibility of a mystery – she loved to read mystery books, and a real life mystery would be hard to stay away from.

"Have you noticed how recently everybody seems a bit... meurgh." Scorpius said to Rose in a whisper.

Rose laughed lightly, "Could you elaborate on what 'meurgh' means please, I don't think I quite understand," Rose paused and Scorpius scowled at her, "I'm just joking! You really need to lighten up at bit," He continued to glower at her, "Oh fine, they do all seem a bit on-edge don't they? It's like they're expecting something to happen."

"It's exactly like that! My Dad seems even more stressed than normal at the moment, but whenever I ask about it he just starts talking about something else. It's not normal Rose, something big is about to happen," Scorpius paused, giving his statement a more serious effect, "And I'm pretty sure that we're not going to like it."

**X.o.O.o.O.o.X**

**Rose & Scorpius - aged 17:**

Scorpius and Rose were once again in attendance of the annual Auror Celebration Ball, and like the previous six years they were sitting next to each other at the same table for dinner.

"Scorpius, do you think you can see what my mum has in her hand? She looks like she's trying to hide it from us," Rose said to Scorpius.

Scorpius craned his neck to get a look at Mrs. Weasley before replying, "It looks like some sort of coin, maybe a galleon, but that doesn't make sense for why she would have one because this Ball is paid for by the Ministry. At least, I think that's what my Father told me."

"Merlin's pants on fire," Rose gasped out loud. Scorpius just looked at her weirdly. "I'm going to have to take a guess and say that it isn't a real galleon. Mum told me once about how when she was in school she enchanted some fake galleons so Dumbledore's Army could communicate, but I've never seen one of them before so I am only about ninety percent sure that is one of her galleons."

"But why would she need to communicate with her school friends?" Scorpius looked confusedly at Rose who was looking like understanding had just hit her full on in the face.

Rose looked around her once more and noticed the tense postures of all the adults before catching her mother's gaze. She discretely held up her hand to her mum and she just nodded to her, and that was all it took for Rose to open her small bag for her wand before tucking it up the sleeve of her dress. She looked again to Scorpius now who looked more confused than ever.

"I understand what's happening now! My mum has definitely got her fake galleon tonight, and thank Merlin that she's not the only one who has. Look at how every adult in this room is seated – most are sitting like they're expecting something and some people have their hands clenched around a galleon, I think even your Father has one! They're preparing to call for back-up if they need it," Rose explained.

"Rose, why would they need back-up?"

"They're preparing for an attack. They have been for the last seven years! They know that there are dark forces, even though so many people thought that we'd stopped all of that! It's obvious now that Astoria and my mother have made sure we're seated next to each other at all of these, and they've even encouraged that we talk to each other, plus they're making sure that we're going to be protected when this thing starts." Rose looked panicked as she gradually unravelled what was happening, "Scorpius, you need to take out your wand and hide it up your sleeve, we don't want to scare the children and we definitely want to be ready for when this happens."

"Rose, what are we going to do if this does happen? We both know that we won't be allowed to stay and fight even though we are of age, so what do we do then?"

"I don't know, I just hope that somebody else does."

**X.o.O.o.X**

"Why do evil people always feel that they should get everybody really worked up before they decide to attack? It's really annoying, they should stop it," Rose said.

"Maybe it's because they're evil," Scorpius said in a sarcastic voice.

"Shut up," Rose stopped talking before hearing a loud bang from further away, "Scorpius, I'm thinking that the bad guys have finally arrived."

A few minutes later there was another deafening bang, this time directly outside the closed doors leading into the Ball. A few of the more experienced Aurors stood up and armed themselves with their wands all pointed at the door. A moment later and a spell blasted the doors apart and a troop of dark-clad figures emerged from the dust. After a small moment of hesitation, the remaining Aurors and the adults stood up and started shooting spells at these figures, though many spells just bounced off of their protective gear.

Scorpius and Rose didn't get much of a glimpse at these people before they were dragged aside by a frantic yet also calm Hermione Weasley. More dust was already starting to flood the air around them as a battle started in the room.

"Rosie, I'm sorry but you have to go now, quickly! This isn't safe for you and you need to leave with Scorpius, protect each other for your parent's sakes! We love you so much Rose and Scorpius your parents tell you to be safe. You need to apparate out of here, go to anywhere remote and then read this letter," Hermione thrust a letter and a small, worn purple beaded bag into their hands, "Don't try to contact us and definitely don't allow yourselves to be found. I'm sorry we couldn't tell you about this earlier, but you have to go now!"

Rose had tears running down her face as she hugged her mother goodbye and then watched in despair as the motherly figure hardened up and headed into the battle, wand at the ready. Once she was no longer in sight due to the large dust clouds Rose grabbed Scorpius's arm and apparated them away. They arrived in the forest of Dean – a place that she had once camped in with her parents and that now she would have to stay with Scorpius.

"Should we read that letter then?" Scorpius asked Rose.

**X.o.O.o.O.o.X**

**Soo... Yeah. I said at the beginning that it was just a bit of a re-write of the first three chapters all joined together, but it is essentially the same. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and even if you didn't I'd like it if you could review or whatever you want to do. I will try to upload the next one soon, but thanks for bearing with me :)**


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